Implementation of the Regional Simulation Model in Miami-Dade County, Florida

The Regional Simulation Model (RSM), an integrated ground water and surface water modeling tool consists of two primary components: A Hydrologic Simulation Engine (HSE) — a fully coupled hydrologic model, and a Management Simulation Engine (MSE) — a suite of operational hydraulic control algorithms. This tool has been implemented on a sub-regional-scale within Miami-Dade County, Florida to simulate long-term hydrologic impacts of regional-scale water management alternatives. The Miami-Dade model covers portions of southeastern Florida where hydraulic interactions between surface and ground water are very significant. The HSE was implemented to simulate the hydrology and the MSE was implemented to simulate the operations of the water management system. MSE Assessors, a collection of data processing modules provided the structural coordination needed for local water supply and flood control management. This model was used to assess the amount of water needed for flood control, water supply and environmental needs in order to specify flows at managed structures.